Latest Blog Entries

Newsletter

For a 200-page book of Thomas Jay Oord’s best-selling writings and to receive his newsletter, add your email address…

Newsletter signup

Please wait...

Thank you for signing up!

The Amipotent God is Neither Externally Nor Voluntarily Limited

In my systematic theology of love, I argue that believers should reject the idea God is omnipotent. They should embrace the notion that God's power is uncontrolliong love. I call this "amipotence:" ami=love; potence=power. The amipotent view stands between two adjacent concepts of divine power […]

Introducing Gino-Theology

In a recently published Substack essay, I looked at arguments for and against saying God is a being. I propose a new way to think about God I call "gino-theology." In that Substack essay, I argued that we best think of God as an everlastingly becoming Spirit. That's gino-theology. By “becoming,” I […]

Eleven Ways to Rethink Religion in Light of Science

I was recently invited by the Center for Christogenesis to give a paper. (Thanks, Ilia Delio, Robert Nicastro, and team!) It was part of the Center's "Rethinking Religion in an Age of Science" online conference. Given the invitation, I took the opportunity to reflect on what precisely I'd like to […]

A UNIVERSAL, INCORPOREAL, SPIRIT

(This is chapter four of my systematic theology of love in progress. I’d love to get your suggestions on how the chapter might be improved. That might include suggestion citations, ideas, grammar changes, and more. Paid subscribers will get a signed copy of the published book and will be mentioned […]

God’s Essential and Contingent Attributes

I'm writing a systematic theology. As a small part of the task, I'm comparing and contrasting my view of God with other systematic theologies. Most theologies prioritize a different list of divine attributes than what I prioritize. A common way to prioritize one or some divine attributes identifies […]

What KIND of God Exists?

In my last blog post ("Reasons to Think God Exists"), I noted atypical reasons to believe God might exist. Those reasons come after a yet-to-be-published discussion of traditional reasons people think God exists. Those typical arguments appeal to design, first cause, morality, religious experiences […]

Reasons to Think God Exists

I'm in the midst of a massive writing project that will likely take three to four years. But I want to share a small portion of what I've written. And I'd like feedback. The excerpt below is in a chapter that explores reasons to think God does or does not exist. I address the usual arguments for and […]

Open and Relational Biblical Issues

Chad Bahl and I contributed a chapter to a massive handbook on postconservative interpretation. The book is aimed at college students, and our task was to sketch out an open and relational vision. Here's what we wrote... Click for Book Info Open and Relational Hermeneutics Open and Relational […]

Gloria M. Coffin – Queer Ally and Uncontrolling Love Advocate

My friend and fellow schemer Gloria Coffin died unexpectedly a few days ago. She was one of the most energetic and quickest thinkers I've ever known. She could also be feisty, which I especially liked! Since hearing of her death, I've been scanning hundreds and hundreds of notes we've sent to one […]

What is Amipotence?

God is amipotent, not omnipotent. That’s been my argument in several books, but I made the case extensively in The Death of Omnipotence and Birth of Amipotence.[1] It's the idea pondered by 140+ essayists in a recently published, two-volume work called Amipotence. I believe theists should reject the […]

About

Thomas Jay Oord is a theologian, philosopher, and scholar of multi-disciplinary studies. He is the author or editor of more than twenty books and professor at Northwest Nazarene University, Nampa, Idaho.

Search

Blog Categories

Recent Posts